What constitutes the perfect day? It’s different for everyone of course. For me it happened to involve wats, open air museums, and a hammock nap on the river. Here we go: So I had done all the work I needed to do in Phnom Penh before we leave on Sunday. I have already done most of the touristy stuff in Phnom Penh since I’ve been here three times now. So I planned Friday to ask Maly to be my driver and hang out with him for the day. I thought others would be joining me, but it ended up just being [View Full Entry]

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I’m finally having a chance to catch up on the last couple of days. Friday was really long but with a mix of the good, the bad, the bizarre, and the entertaining. Adam and I met with this guy I met with last time I was here. He works in the Ministry of Education in the scientific research department. He also heads the mathematical society. We were meeting with him in the hopes that he would look over our math curriculum and give us some advice. He had also volunteered to take us on a school observation. Taking into consideration the [View Full Entry]

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MOU= Memorandum of Understanding Apparently this is something we need with the Ministry in order to do many things in this country, such as have meetings with top officials, or run any sort of training at all. Huh. That would've been good to know awhile ago. Interesting. I'm tired and about to go be social, but here's a super quick run down of the day: - meeting with the director of an international school: he was super helpful and will be a great contact. He's from the Pakistani/Indian border and has been working in Cambodia for awhile. We think he may [View Full Entry]

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We had a meeting today with this man who works at a regional teacher training college half the week, then as a trainer for the International Baccalaureate organization doing more teacher training. I met with this same guy in March and felt then that he would be an awesome person to be the head of our school or at least be on the staff in some high position. Today Siamack and Adam met with him as well and felt the same thing. Herein lies the question: When is it socially acceptable to "poach" someone from one company to work for you? [View Full Entry]

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I have titled this blog as is because we realized soon into our first school observation that we really have no idea how the teacher would behave if we were not present. I wish we had Harry's Invisibility Cloak. That would be amazing. Then we could chill in the back of the classroom and observe teachers in their element without them sucking up, nervous, or overly polite to the kids because we are there. Does the Cloak have A/C? That'd be nice, too. We started our day at the most receptive school from yesterday. This campus is gorgeous- they have a [View Full Entry]

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Today was our official first day of work. At 9, we had a meeting with all of us on the education team. My role for the summer, along with random other stuff I'm sure I'll help with, is to make sure that our curriculum and our school itself gets vetted through all the various layers of the ministry and the community. Sounds challenging, especially in a country like Cambodia which is extremely hierarchical. After our meeting Siamack, Adam and I sat down and researched high schools in the area that we want to visit. Siamack sent emails to a bunch of [View Full Entry]

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Today I ate a bagel, took a nap, played Jenga against Maly the tuk tuk driver/my buddy, went to eat Thai food, and went to a beer garden. Laziest. Day. Ever. Questions: 1) Why has someone not made sunscreen with bug repellent included? Or, if they have, where can I buy some? 2) Do you ever get used to the extreme humidity? I look and feel like I've been rained on all day, but I haven't... [View Full Entry]

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This blog is very much a work in progress. I figured it's easier for me to have this than to mass email everyone all the time :) I arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday evening after a 15 1/2 hour flight from NYC to Hong Kong then a 2 1/2 hour one from Hong Kong here. For the record, Cathay Pacific has by far the best airline food I have ever had. That says a lot because I fly a lot. I watched the movie "The Reader" on the plane, followed by a whole bunch of TV shows. Tracie, you're right- I [View Full Entry]

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